Reviews
[Review] ‘In Sound Mind’ Takes You On a Surreal Trip Through Tortured Memories
While In Sound Mind trades in some familiar horror beats, it manages to find its own groove.
Developer We Create Stuff previously sharpened its horror teeth on the popular Half-Life 2 mod Nightmare House 2, and there’s some obvious heritage from that title bleeding through to In Sound Mind, but here it feels a lot more like a developer trying to expand on what it knows with an increasingly surreal voyage through a troubled psyche in order to solve a greater mystery.
The game’s plot sees you as Desmond Wales, a psychologist investigating the deaths of his patients from the town of Milton Haven, who had all been exposed to a mysterious chemical. This search for answers isn’t keen to stay in the realms of reality for long, however, and things begin to get weird as the documented memories of the patients begin to seep into Desmond’s world, offering up a variety of nightmarish scenarios for him to contend with as he seeks to discover the truth behind their collective demise.
Desmond’s mind isn’t in the best of ways thanks to the invasive, manipulative presence of Agent Rainbow, a fedora-wearing red-eyed ghoul that’s out to permanently take residence in Desmond’s brain, Rainbow loves to toy with his host, being both a help and a hindrance to the investigations.
Desmond’s troubled brain causes each patient’s tape to transport his psyche to a hellscape that is shaped by that victim’s personal trauma. The world twists and contorts the vague outlines of places once remembered, giving thematic clues as to what went on in these people’s lives, and births monsters specific to them as well.
The cycle for each tape follows the same broad patterns of investigation, monster-avoidance, and puzzle-solving, but We Create Stuff ensures that any repetition is chopped up, mixed up, and seasoned differently each time. It may not seem like much, but I’ve played too many first-person horror games that keep their formula largely one-note throughout. In Sound Mind’s gentle switching up of such things makes for a more engaging experience. The puzzles especially benefit from constant chopping and changing of styles, and tend to be the right level of challenge as well.
It certainly helps that each tape location feels distinct from the last visually. From dreary hallways in a dilapidated building to the oversaturated glow of a memory of a Beach town, In Sound Mind utilizes its concept to create something of a tightly connected anthology where the central thread of Milton Haven’s unusual plight is strengthened by its individual tales of ordinary people and their troubles.
A good soundtrack goes a long way in my book to sweetening me on a game, and this is a game that delivers in that department thanks to The Living Tombstone, who found fame on YouTube with songs about the likes of Five Nights at Freddy’s. Tasked with creating the soundtrack here, he sets the bar high with a crunchy melodic rock theme song in ‘Here Comes a Saviour’ and never drops below that with instrumentals and vocal collaborations alike. I enjoyed the game anyway, but I can’t deny the soundtrack had a big helping hand in my feelings about it.
The way each patient manifests in their world is another fascinating aspect. These ‘shadows’ bring each patient’s trauma to life as boss fights. The first, for instance, is a former beauty pageant contestant horribly scarred by a tragic accident as a child. As such her shame and anxiety shapes her shadow ‘The Watcher’, an ethereal gorgon. Another patient’s anger issues create a grim biomechanical creature called ‘The Bull’ that dwarves Desmond. My favorite though is a former soldier’s shadow. A radioman during a war, he endured a nightmarish tour after being exposed to a drug on the battlefield that caused him to see unbelievable things. He came back looking for answers, and ended up dead like the rest. The shadow is a gangly humanoid mess of metal, radio parts, and a sniper rifle for a head, that stalks the forests of Milton Haven. It’s perhaps the most intense and visually stimulating encounter of all.
Unearthing the conspiracy behind the mysterious drug and how it impacted these lives is genuinely compelling. It doesn’t offer much in the way of surprises, but has all the hallmarks of a satisfying potboiler with a visually interesting supernatural twist. The mashing together of Desmond’s obsession with caring for his patients with an increasingly doom-laden fate of his own mind drives the story on, ensuring there’s an emotional core to the spookiness that manages to avoid getting too mawkish.
In Sound Mind naturally suffers a touch when it leans into tropes that have been bludgeoned to death in this genre of games many times over, but that leaning is often done with purpose and care rather than used as a crutch. There’s nothing wrong with utilizing tropes when they’re applied with flair, invention, and proper structure behind them. We Create Stuff does just that with In Sound Mind, and as a result, pushes the game up above a sea of similar stories to create something more memorable.
In Sound Mind manages to be a confident full debut for We Create Stuff that shows its successful time experimenting with the Source engine was of great benefit.
In Sound Mind review code for Xbox Series X/S provided by the publisher.
In Sound Mind is out now on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
Reviews
‘Cape Fear’ Redefines A Cutthroat Classic & Turns The American Dream Into A Psychological Nightmare [Review]
Hollywood has been stuck in a trend where a recognizable property — any recognizable property — holds more value than an original idea. This has led to a trend where a slew of acclaimed films have transitioned over to television and become limited series, because why not?
Which has led to a very mixed bag of results that’s usually viewed as a hollow exercise in IP renewal that’s become a growing cliche that’s something to mock. Dead Ringers, Fatal Attraction, Presumed Innocent, and even The Birds are just some of the most recent titles in the movie-to-limited series pipeline. Admittedly, this formula can still work. It just needs to actually have not only a point of view, but a point, otherwise it’s destined to disappear into the vast streaming abyss.
Cape Fear definitely has a point of view and is well aware that it’s the fourth proper adaptation of this story — fifth if The Simpsons’ masterful “Cape Feare” parody is included. It’s an adaptation that’s not only aware of its past’s baggage, but intentionally embraces it and uses it to its advantage. Nick Antosca’s Cape Fear is so exciting because it functions as a remix of every version of this story — the ’60s film, Martin Scorsese’s ’90s remake, and John D. MacDonald’s original novel, The Executioners — to create this glorious amalgamation of the narrative. It’s not unlike what was done with Bryan Fuller’s Hannibal series and how it remixed the breadth of Thomas Harris’ works and their cinematic adaptations.
This approach is most effective when certain iconic scenes from the ’90s film are recontextualized and given to different characters in order to make grander thematic statements. It’s a really striking approach that reflects the generational ripples and overlap between these adaptations, yet it’s never distracting or ostentatious to anyone who is experiencing this story for the first time. It helps this series feel different from the deluge of forgettable adaptations that are flooding the market.
On paper, Antosca is the perfect showrunner to tell this story. He has an impressive body of work to pull from that includes horror series like Channel Zero, Hannibal, and Brand New Cherry Flavor, but also lots of true-crime titles like The Act, A Friend of the Family, and Candy. This series falls squarely within these two extremes as it blurs the lines between these genres and styles of horror storytelling. It’s Big Little Lies on bath salts. Cape Fear perhaps doesn’t need to exist, but it’s still a hell of a terrifying experience that has something timely to say.
Horror is full of stories in which one bad day is all it takes to break someone and turn them into a completely different person. Cape Fear isn’t doing exactly this. It’s more of a psychological waterboarding until the target’s sense of self is eroded to rubble. However, it takes the kernel of this idea and expands it onto the pristine ideal of the picturesque American family. It plays with the self-aware realization that the stories we tell are not necessarily what we think they are.
It’s a story about forgiveness, salvation, and revenge that blows up the Bowden family when a violent offender, Max Cady (Javier Bardem), is released from prison and systematically sets his sights on the people he holds accountable. Anna and Tom Bowden (Amy Adams and Patrick Wilson), the married couple who represented his case in court, receive a rude awakening when Cady’s psychological torture tour begins. Cape Fear, as a property, is most famously known for being the ultimate cat-and-mouse psychological thriller. This rendition culminates in such an explosive climax that’s right out of a slasher film.
Antosca was involved with an unproduced Friday the 13th reboot draft back in 2015, and there are certainly moments in which Max Cady moves with the hulking intensity of Jason Voorhees. So much of what makes all this work rests on Bardem’s complex performance. He’s very careful not to just copy Robert Mitchum or Robert De Niro’s versions of Cady, while he also taps into a terrifying intensity that feels completely different from what he brought forward with No Country for Old Men’s Anton Chigurh.
Apple TV’s new series also introduces a mental injury to Cady that adds psychological fractures that pull him between different versions of events as he struggles to grasp the truth. It’s an element that’s not exactly necessary and often feels like a convenient obstacle that can be activated whenever necessary. However, it allows for some creative visual flourishes and more opportunities for Bardem to get lost in Cady’s complexities.
Opposite Bardem’s Cady, Adams and Wilson do some of their best work as Anna and Tom. Anna is much more front and center than Tom, and Cape Fear is really Adams and Bardem’s time to shine. Wilson still does amazing, understated work, especially whenever the rug gets pulled out from under him regarding someone in his family. The visceral, brutal violence that Cady introduces to the Bowden family hits hard and highlights the anger and intensity that’s fundamental to this story.
What Cape Fear does best is its enlightening deconstruction of the ideal American family, how much work it takes to preserve such a pure thing, and the lengths that people go when they feel like the sanctity of this union is under fire. All it takes is for one of these foundational pillars to weaken before the whole unit becomes compromised. It moves the damage and pressure from one family member to the next as everyone struggles, and it’s unclear what will be left of this family when all is said and done.
This dynamic makes Cape Fear’s story so much more layered and interesting than if the series were just focused on Cady, Anna, and Tom, rather than making their children as much of a priority. Each member of the Bowden family experiences their own obstacles and arcs, although Natalie (Lily Collias) and Zack’s (Joe Anders) storylines are often the most grating. It all boils down to forgiveness, identity, and wanting to be perceived as the person we think we are, versus how we’re viewed by the public, and the dangerous dissonance that can exist between these separate selves.
These ideas are at their most potent when Cape Fear taps into the growing paranoia that bubbles up to the surface and becomes unbearable, so that even the littlest action is triggering. These moments are usually captured through a more erratic filming style that ramps up the tension for both the characters and the audience, unsure of what will strike and when.
Cape Fear never struggles to create uncomfortable setpieces where the anxiety just crescendos and hangs over the scene. On this note, the series’ musical score really captures the perfect aesthetic. It immediately evokes the suspenseful power of the previous Cape Fear films whenever Bernard Herrmann’s virtuosic original theme kicks in. It’s magic every single time.
Antosca delivers an exhilarating update to a classic thriller that pushes its source material to exciting, new places that justify its existence. It’s an exciting story that’s full of terrifying performances and cataclysmic consequences. Admittedly, Cape Fear could have been shortened to eight episodes rather than ten. There are a few plot threads that feel unnecessary and artificially expanded upon, but every episode is still an adrenaline-pumping experience.
If nothing else, it reminds audiences why Cape Fear is such an evergreen story that’s lasted the test of time and will continue to unnerve and get under the skin of whole new generations.
The 10-episode series will make its global debut on June 5 with a two-episode premiere on Apple TV, followed by new episodes every Friday through July 31, 2026.
You must be logged in to post a comment.